Month: November 2011

You would be hard pressed to find a coach with more doubters and naysayers than Georgia Tech’s Paul Johnson. You don’t have to look far on the local message boards before you’ll find a few Tech fans & alumni already calling for a coaching change (like the GT program is Notre Dame or something). Fan talk aside, the truth is CPJ has put together an impressive resume in his time in Atlanta; averaging nearly 9 wins/yr, racking up some impressive hardware and arguably exceeding all expectations in his first 4 seasons. The cliche statement you’ll hear the most is “That offense won’t work,” (see AJC’s Terrance Moore) but it undoubtedly HAS WORKED. Johnson’s record is 34-18 (.651%) overall and 21-11 (.656%) in conference as Tech’s HC. Here’s a look at the 4 seasons under CPJ, green games are (+) wins and red games are (-) losses. Coach Johnson By The Numbers: 26-4 When Leading at Halftime 22-1 When Scoring 30+ Points 20-6 Record at Home 15-2 Combined Record vs. Clemson, FSU, Duke, UNC & Wake Forest 12-3 In Games Decided By 5 Points or Less 6-2 Home Record vs. Teams Ranked in The Top 25 6-0 Start for The First Time in 45 Years (2011-1966) Since Tech hired Johnson, there has been 49 coaching hires in Div. 1 football, among those there’s been 1 national championship (Auburn) and 5 conference championships (turned out by four different coaches). Paul Johnson is one of the four. Since Bobby Dodd retired after the 1966 season, only one Georgia Tech coach (O’Leary (61%) has won +60% of his games. Johnson’s win percentage is 65%. Johnson is the first coach in Georgia Tech history to win eight or more games in three of his first four seasons. (Chan Gailey won 8+ games only once in six years as Tech’s HC) CPJ is just the fourth coach in ACC history to defeat all 11 conference opponents; joining Bowden, Beamer, and O’Brien. Johnson is the first coach in ACC history to be named Coach of the Year in each of his first two seasons. He was also named the 2008 National Coach of the year by CBS Sports. Since 2008, the Jackets trail only VA Tech for most conference victories (21) in the ACC. Georgia Tech has finished in the FBS top 5 nationally (Div. 1-A) in rushing during each of CPJ’s first 4 seasons (08-5th, 09-2nd, 10-1st, 11-3rd). Coaches Interviewed For HC Position in 2007: Charlie Strong – HC @ Louisville; 14-11 record in second year.Chris Hatcher – Fired @ GA Southern after going 11-11 in 2008/2009; currently coaches at Murray State.Joker Phillips – HC @ Kentucky; 10-14 record in second year.Will Muschamp – Former DC @ Texas; first year HC at Florida who is currently 6-6.Randy Edsall – Left UCONN to take over the program @ Maryland; currently 2-10 in first year.Jon Tenuta – moved from Notre Dame to NC State where he is current linebackers coach. Looks like D-Rad picked the right guy for the job.

[#13] Georgia (9-2) @ [#23] Georgia Tech (8-3)Saturday Nov. 26, 2011, 12:01pm It’s Hate Week and UGA seems to believe another easy victory is inevitable Saturday, despite the fact that this Tech team is arguably the best opponent the Dawgs have faced since week 2. Georgia is coming in with a lot of confidence, rolling off 9 straight; their best wins coming against two unranked teams- Florida (6-5) and Auburn (7-4). Georgia has only been ranked 2 of the past 4 years, but a lot of folks will tell you that Georgia Tech is no longer a rival of the Dawgs; the series under Paul Johnson has been very close, despite UGA winning the last 2 against the Jackets. Here are the stats from the past 3 games: 2008: [#22] Georgia Tech 45 vs. [#11] Georgia 42 Down 16 at the half, Tech comes back to defeat the Dawgs in Athens, rushing for 409 yards in Johnson’s first year as HC. 2009: [NR] Georgia 30 vs. [#7] Georgia Tech 24 Nesbitt gets cheap shot by a UGA defender and leaves game; Shaw enters for Tech, throws 1 pass (interception) that UGA drives for a score; Demaryius Thomas drops a 4th down pass at the UGA 36 during the go ahead drive with 3:00 left to seal the UGA victory. Tech racks up 340 yards total yard against Georgia, 135 in the air and 205 on the ground, and goes on to win the ACC Championship. 2010: [NR] Georgia Tech 34, [NR] Georgia 42Jackets rack up 512 yards (411 rushing) on offense behind Tevin Washington, the Jackets QB making only his third career start. Tech gets tying score with 4:57 left, but Scott Blair yanks extra point wide to give UGA 1 point lead; UGA runs out the clock to take the win. Random Related Numbers: CPJ career at Tech: 34-17, 20-5 home, 6-1 @ home vs. top 25, 15-1 vs. Clemson, Florida State, North Carolina, Wake Forest and Duke. Since 2008, according to Rivals.com, UGA has landed [50] 4-star and [6] 5-star prospects, Georgia Tech has landed [8] 4-star and [0] 5-star prospects. Cliche Quirks / Message Board Rants: Tech fans are nerds…Maybe so; but the biggest nerds don’t care about football, and surely won’t be reading the Tech message boards, idiot.Tech fans can’t even fill their own stadium… Tech’s attendance: 20,000 – Georgia’s: 35,000; Tech grads seek many more careers out of state and don’t have nearly as many sidewalk trash fans. The only requirment to become a Doggie fan is to head over to Wal-Mart and pick yuns up some nice garb. Speaking of Wal-Mart…. “Hello? Hello? He just got off from Walmart…Anybody who calls into a radio show and barks is either retarded or doesn’t have a life.” – Coach Paul Johnson, CPJ Radio Show Best Videos: Best UGA Jokes: Georgia head football coach Mark Richt will only be dressing twenty players for the Georgia Tech game. The rest of the players will have to get dressed by themselves. A guy called UGA police to report a car jacking, said they were too busy right now and to just get the jersey number & call back later. What do you call a UGA player in a three piece suit?A: The Defendant If Cornelius Washington, Isaiah Crowell and Tavarres King are all in the same car, who’s driving?A: State Trooper WTGW? THWG…

Braves fans are notorious for short term memory and a real ‘what have you done for me lately?’ attitude towards most players on the team. Craig Kimbrel faded a bit down the stretch, mostly from being overworked due to necessity, but in reality still put together a dream season for most closers; notching a rookie-record 46 saves, during his first full major league season. Craig was rewarded on Monday when the Baseball Writers’ Association of America voted him the 2011 National League Rookie of the Year. Craig received all 32 first place votes and was the first unanimous NL ROY Award winner since Albert Pujols in 2001. Kimbrel was flat out FILTHY during the middle of the year; in 38 games from 6/12-9/8, he pitched 37.2 scoreless innings, holding opponents to a .112 batting average while striking out 67. Mariano Rivera is regarded by most to be the best closer of all-time. This is a stat line comparison of Rivera to Kimbrel during their first full big league season: Rivera: 8-3 Record—2.09 ERA—61 Appearances—25 ER—130 K—10.9 K/9 IP—0.99 WHIP Kimbrel: 4-3 Record—2.10 ERA—79 Appearances—18 ER—127 K—14.8 K/9 IP—1.03 WHIP The icing on the cake: Rivera was 26 years old, Kimbrel was only 23.